WiMax is heralded as the next greatest thing since sliced bread - and why not? It is faster, longer distance, and consumes less power. But it does require a hefty infrastructure, which is what Sprint plans to bring to the party.
Sprint and Clearwire inked an agreement in July that provided for sharing the costs of reaching 100M WiMax subscribers in 2008. Sprint cited differences in the partnership that just couldn't be resolved - causing Clearwire stock to drop by 17% in today's trading so far.
Sprint is also under pressure to review its business plan and scale back on the aggressive $5B plan to roll out WiMax completely by 2010.
Sprint has lost 37% share value since buying Nextel, probably because the service level and quality of Nextel dropped dramatically after the purchase according to many. The company is under considerable pressure to reduce costs, and innovate at the same time.
Public statements have been made reaffirming Sprint's commitment to WiMax. Sprint desperately needs a differentiator and new service model -let's hope the powers that be continue to see the big picture and don't sacrifice the future for today's balance sheet.
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